Chess updates

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John Nash met Carlsen in Oslo, called him 'like Justin Bieber'. MC hates that comparison :cantstop:, everyone is trolling him these days. Nevertheless he is doing a great job at promoting the game especially in Nordic countries, similar to the Fischer boom in the US chess scene in 1972. http://www.nrk.no/kultur/her-moter-den-beromte-matematikeren-magnus-carlsen-1.12366522

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Interesting and funny read. "Karpov was recruited as KGB agent, code-named Raoul".:cantstop: Presidents and Dissidents http://chess-news.ru/en/node/19064

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Viswanathan Anand plays exhibition match against Aamir Khan during the inauguration ceremony of the 3rd Maharashtra Chess League. Aamir Khan and Viswanathan Anand were invited over to inaugurate the 3rd edition of the Maharashtra Chess League. Aamir challenged the player to a game, which he willingly accepted. Knowing what he had got himself into Aamir was willing to go down with a crushing defeat. Some pics from the event TRuadOqe_pU Aamir Khan-"I am a huge fan of Anand. The opportunity to play with one of my idols is something I would never let go off. I want to thank Vishy for being so nice to accept this game. I certainly do not deserve to play this game with him by any stretch of imagination." Khan revealed that his paternal grandma introduced him to chess when he was six years old. He said he would always try and find a way to play the game at the sets. Shammi Kapoor, Paresh Rawal, Ashutosh Gowariker and Katrina Kaif are some of the other industry stalwarts who play the game. Anand thanked Khan for promoting the game. He also joked how his little son would invariably dial the first number on his phone book and end up calling the actor at odd hours :cantstop:. Khan, who had white pieces, played the Ruy Lopez opening. Both players castled their kings on the opposite end very early in the game. Not surprisingly, Anand won in a little over 20 minutes. Anand interview after the ceremony to DNA: Where do you stand after two back-to-back world championship losses at the hands of Magnus Carlsen? This year, I am going to be playing only tournaments. The Candidates (the eight-player tournament conducted to determine the challenger for the next world championship) will take place next year. So, I am going to play in Norway, St Louis, London and, maybe, a fourth one in Dubai. At 45, what keeps you going? Deep down, do you still harbour dreams of winning a sixth world championship? I want to still challenge myself. I still like playing. I don't understand why I should stop. How tough is it to stay fit and focused than it was, say 10-15 years ago? I don't think it works like that. Yes, it does get harder. A lot of your rivals start to become much younger. But at the end of the day, it's just a game of chess and you have got to play well. We don't have to complicate the explanation. It's that simple. If you still go on and play a good game of chess, it has to work out. If it doesn't, then you have to find out why and try harder. That's roughly what I am doing. What do you do to stay in shape? I try to run every day or swim or go cycling. Recently, I joined this cycling group in Chennai. We do about 30-40 km every Sunday. That apart, I go for my long walks. Tell us more about cycling... We do different routes every Sunday. Actually, it's my brother-in-law (wife Aruna's brother) who got me into it. We do random routes every time. We tend to meet at Adyar or Madhya Kailash around 5 am. We do city tours early in the morning because it's cooler. Now, we have started doing the beach routes at ECR (East Coast Road) and OMR (Old Mahabalipuram Road). What's your bike? It's a Timber. It's quite enjoyable. You can keep a very good pace or you can relax by cycling steadily. But we negate all our efforts by going and having breakfast at Sangeetha (laughs). You have lived abroad. How important is it to have dedicated cycling lanes in our cities? This is kind of catching on. Of course, the mountains in Spain are much nicer than the crowded cities in India. But the first thing is that we must make a habit of cycling. Are you still into itelescope.net? Yes, I still take pictures (of faraway planets and stars using a telescope). I do it once every month. They have named a planet after me. It's located in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. Even my son Akhil knows the number, 4538. How different is fatherhood now? Akhil is four now. He changes every year. Aruna says he can't take me seriously. To him, I am just a play partner. He just likes to have fun with me. Generally, if he sees me, he wants to play with me and throw pillows at me. Is he into chess? Well, he can tell you all the pieces, but he can't play yet. Bobby Fischer said once that theory is killing originality. Is this bad for chess? I don't think so. That said, there is a lot of theory in chess. But originality doesn't mean ignorance. Building on something that's already there is also originality. Do you continue to work towards the ultimate goal — becoming world champion again? It doesn't work that way. I can't just say I am looking at winning it. I have to take every tournament I play very, very seriously. How different was the Chennai loss from the Sochi loss? Did you take heart from Sochi because you ran Carlsen close? I have forgotten about it. I have played three or four tournaments after that defeat. You tend not to look back? I tend to look forward. I am focused on the tournaments I am playing or going to play. Are guys like Aronian and Nakamura in a position to threaten you at the Candidates? The qualifiers are still happening. I have qualified. The other seven slots are up for grabs. How important is it to have events like the Maharashtra Chess League? Every other sport has found that the league system works in India. In the MCL, we have six committed teams that have been here for three years already. That's 40-plus slots. This event is every interesting because anyone on any board can play anyone else on any other board I hope this catches on. Interview to TOI On the Grand Chess Tour... There is no indication of where the league is supposed to lead to. I have already been playing the London tournament for many years and the city has joined a new circuit of three tournaments. I am playing three good tournaments. I don't' see any other angle. Fide (World Chess Federation) did not block the individual tournaments, why should they block this? On his return to 2800+ club I have been missing 2800 for some time. I have been like a pendulum, going up and swinging back. I am happy that I have crossed 2804 On Carlsen's rating of ELO 2876 That is a huge number for Carlsen, it is impressive. But he has to score one point more than me in every tournament. That will be a challenge for him. On the possibility of Anand-Carlsen III I will play in this new circuit in Norway, US and London. I hope to play some other events till January by when I hope to know about the Candidates. At this stage, I am not thinking about the match (vs Carlsen), I still have to qualify. On how he keeps himself motivated in spite of being the 3rd oldest active player in the top 100 I am 45, nothing I can do about that. I enjoy chess as much as I did before. http://www.dnaindia.com/sport/interview-i-want-to-still-challenge-myself-viswanathan-anand-2088274 http://daily.bhaskar.com/news/ENT-BNE-oh-fresh-aamir-khan-surrenders-playing-chess-with-champion-viswanathan-anand-5001116-PHO.html http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/entertainment/hindi/bollywood/news/Viswanathan-Anand-plays-exhibition-match-against-Aamir-Khan/articleshow/47394086.cms http://www.mumbaimirror.com/sport/others/Dont-see-it-as-a-rebel-league/articleshow/47391998.cms http://www.deccanchronicle.com/150523/entertainment-bollywood/gallery/undefeated-bollywood-chess-champ-aamir-khan-gets-beaten

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Caruana Wins 2014-2015 GP, Qualifies For 2016 Candidates With Nakamura Anand,Caruana and Nakamura have booked their spots for Candidates 2016.:two_thumbs_up: Shaping out to be one hell of a line up. 5 more spots up for grabs.:cheer: For those who are interested about the qualification procedure for the candidates:(Points listed in order of priority) 1. Runner of World Championship Match 2014(Anand) 2. World Cup 2015- Will be played in Baku, Azerbaijan this September. It will be a 128-player single-elimination chess tournament(knock out format). The finalists will qualify for the 2016 Candidates Tournament. For more info http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chess_World_Cup_2015. 3. FIDE Grand Prix 2014/15- Caruana and Nakamura qualified with Jakovenko 3rd & Tomashevsky 4th. In case Anand/Caruana/Naka win/are finalists in the World Cup then the qualification spots are given to the next players in the final standings of the Grand Prix. But historically those who have already qualified for the Candidates prefer to skip the World Cup to conserve energy/hide preparation. Will be very surprised if any of the 3 qualified players actually plays the World Cup. 4. Average FIDE Rating List of the 12 monthly lists starting from 1st January 2015 to 1st December 2015- 2 players qualify based on rating( except of course those who have already qualified by points 1,2 or 3). However a player can qualify by rating only if he participates in the World Cup 2015 or FIDE Grand Prix 2014/15(most top players fulfil this criteria). The player in question must also have played minimum 30 rated games in the 12 month period(again not a problem). Grischuk and Topalov are frontrunners to qualify through this criteria as things stand now(but Topalov must play the World Cup). 5. Organizer's nominee- must be rated at least ELO 2725 in the rating list of 1st July, 2015 For more on the World Chess Championship Cycle 2014-16 refer to: http://www.fide.com/FIDE/handbook/regscandidates2016.pdf http://www.chess.com/news/caruana-nakamura-qualify-for-2016-candidates-tournament http://en.chessbase.com/post/khanty-final-round-no-miracle

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Viswanathan Anand's mother Sushila passes away RIP :(( Anand's first chess teacher. She sacrificed so much for Vishy in his younger days when chess wasn't all that popular in India. An ideal sports person's mom, India salutes her for nurturing one of it's greatest champions. :isalute: In so many ways she is the mother of Indian chess. As a well respected Russian chess GM Shipov once said "without Anand it’s tough to imagine Indian chess, without his mother, it’s tough to imagine Anand" - Sushila Viswanathan, the mother of five-time world chess champion Viswanathan Anand passed away on May 26. She was 79. The last rites will be held at 10.00.A.M. on 28.05.2015 at Besant Nagar crematorium, Tamil Nadu. - Sushila hailed from a family of lawyers who played chess. Besides teaching him the basic moves, she played and nurtured him into a champion. Clearly she is a role model parent for the present generations. - While her husband K. Viswanathan was the General Manager of the Southern Railway, she also managed and helped the career of Anand. Shaping up Anand’s chess, his education in his formative years, her contribution towards chess was immense. - When she accompanied Anand to various events, like the Ahmedabad National ‘B’ in 1983, she sacrificed by staying in less comfortable accommodation that is hard to imagine today. Thanks to Anand, the profile of the game changed so much that the present generation of the chess players stand to gain from it. - “We recognized his talent at the right time,” said Sushila Viswanathan when Anand won the World Title for the first time in Tehran 2000. At that time she was 64. “Thrilled. Anand’s triumph did not come as a surprise for us.” She was sure that one day he is going to win the world title. - She was a perfect example for parental motivation. After Anand had lost the Sanghinagar Match in August 1994 to Gata Kamsky, she received him at the Chennai airport, as she had not come to Hyderabad. However, six months later, when Anand got another match against Kamsky at Las Palmas, Spain in March 1995, she ensured that she visited there, and this time the result was reverse! Anand came from a game down to win this match and emerge as World Championship challenger for the first time. - She leaves behind her husband K. Viswanathan, daughter and two sons of whom Anand is the youngest. In her death, chess has lost the biggest motivator Indian chess has seen. Indian chess fraternity mourns her death. http://www.mid-day.com/articles/viswanathan-anands-mother-sushila-passes-away/16246164 http://www.thehindu.com/sport/other-sports/viswanathan-anands-mother-passes-away/article7252466.ece http://en.chessbase.com/post/anand-s-mother-sushila-passes-away

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Devastated for Vishy. :((He was always so close to his mom. She was his first chess teacher, first manager, always accompanying him all across the country to support him. She sacrificed her law career for him. Won't be surprised is he takes a lay off from chess for a while.

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Biopic on Bobby Fischer going to be released on September 18th 2015. Pawn Sacrifice is an American biographical drama film directed by Edward Zwick and written by Steven Knight. The film stars Tobey Maguire(Spider Man :--D) as Bobby Fischer, Liev Schreiber as Boris Spassky(Sabre Tooth from X men), and Lily Rabe as Joan Fischer. The film is set to be released in the United States on September 18, 2015. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pawn_Sacrifice xFHvH9FtACg Hope we can also have a biopic on Vishy Anand in India, Aamir can play Vishy. I mean if average sports persons like Milkha Singh, MaryKom, Saina, MSD, Azhar(fixer and traitor) can have movies based on their lives why not one celebrating one of our top 2/3 greatest sporting heroes?

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Nakamura joins Carlsen, Anand and Caruana in the 2800 club, first time in his life. Congrats to the American. :hatsoff: http://www.chess.com/article/view/chess-beach-body-ready Cartoon courtesy Jose Diaz. For more of his work http://www.diazcartoons.nl/?pagina_id=10&knop=06_01_6&modules_nr=06&module_06_02_id=2, those who follow chess news regularly will find the stuff really funny. :cantstop:

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Kasparov and thirty years of computer chess Some cool pics and info there. http://en.chessbase.com/post/kasparov-and-thirty-years-of-computer-chess

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European Women's Championship Classical won by the Ukranian Natalia Zhukova(Grischuk's wife, pictured below) http://en.chessbase.com/post/european-women-cc-is-won-by-natalia-zhukova Rapids won by former Women's World Champion Alexandra Kosteniuk(pictured below) http://en.chessbase.com/post/acp-euro-women-rapid-won-by-kosteniuk

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Latest Magnus Carlsen interview “I appreciate creating something unique” and more http://www.chess.com/news/magnus-carlsen-i-appreciate-creating-something-unique fb5Rn79jSPg

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Can America Return to Chess Glory? The US chess team may embark on a journey reminiscent of the golden past. Three extraordinary GMs – Fabiano Caruana, Hikaru Nakamura and Wesley So – are rated in the world's top. They are young, hungry and very good – and will be eligible to play in next year's Chess Olympiad. Huffington columnist asks: can they recreate the glory of the U.S. teams from the 1930s? Full article here http://www.huffingtonpost.com/lubomir-kavalek/can-america-return-to-che_b_7463728.html?ir=India&adsSiteOverride=in

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Bulgarian Chess Federation Accused Of Corruption, Danailov Denies Would love to see that scumbag Danailov go down. Chess can do well without characters like him. http://www.chess.com/news/bulgarian-chess-federation-accused-of-corruption-danailov-denies-7739

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Wei Yi youngest Chinese Champion Beware Magnus !!! http://en.chessbase.com/post/wei-yi-youngest-chinese-champion Here is a comparison between the Chinese prodigy and Magnus. This kid is the real deal. https://chess24.com/en/read/news/wei-yi-vs-magnus-carlsen

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Jakovenko on how to beat Carlsen In a recent interview the Russian compared Magnus Carlsen to Bobby Fischer, explaining why the World Champion's style of play doesn’t work for other top players, and why beating Carlsen will require “a new Kasparov”. https://chess24.com/en/read/news/jakovenko-on-how-to-beat-carlsen

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Vachier-Lagrave Wins Opening Blitz As Norway Chess Takes Off The blitz tourney was to determine the pairings(since there are even number of players and it not being a double round robin, some will have an extra white). MVL, Carlsen, Nakamura,Anand,Giri to have an extra white for finishing among the top 5. Anand blew a completely winning position(Ouch) against Carlsen :facepalm:where the evals dropped from +12 to -12 after 1 particular move(44.f3 WTF !!!!) He gets some great positions against the Norwegian but finds ways to blow his position all the time. He needs a mental conditioning expert to counter the Carlsen jinx. Anand beat Caruana, Grischuk, Aronian and Hammer while he lost to Giri and Carlsen. Overall finished with 5.5/9. Happy for him that he hasn't allowed the recent death of his mother affect his game badly though will wait for the main event to kick off to see whether he is in his normal fighting mode. Losing a near and dear one can be painful, when I lost someone close to me a few years back I couldn't get my life in order for almost a year. Today is the first round of the real event(classical) and will see Anand(white) taking on Caruana(black). Anand has whites against Caruana, Grischuk, Carlsen, MVL and Hammer. For the full pairings and schedule check this link.http://2015.norwaychess.com/official-pairings/ Player quotes(including by Kasparov who was there to kickstart the event), pics etc can be found in the below link. http://www.chess.com/news/vachier-lagrave-wins-the-blitz-as-norway-chess-takes-off-4378 Preview of the tournament https://chess24.com/en/read/news/10-questions-before-norway-chess-2015

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Horrible start for Carlsen, Anand thumps the Norwegian in emphatic fashion before the rest day First 4 rounds over. The lucky Bulgarian VeselinTopalov is in the lead with 3.5/4 while Carlsen is languishing at the bottom with 0.5/4 :omg: The highlight until now has been the 1st round when Carlsen obtained a winning position against Topalov. But he wasn't aware of the time control in this event and was flagged on the 60th move. The Norwegian was about to win a “typical Carlsen game,” grinding down Topalov in a deep ending that earlier looked quite drawish. Then, suddenly he lost on time on move 60, not realizing that he wasn't getting extra time on the clock. The time control in Norway is 40 moves in 2 hours followed by 1 hour to finish the game, and 30 seconds per move from move 41. It's a bit of an odd combination of the classical time control and the FIDE time control, never used before at top events. It is mentioned in the players’ contract, and just to be sure, the chief arbiter announced it to the players at the start of the first round. However, one player arrived late for that first round: Magnus Carlsen.Carlsen said this in the TV2 studio where he joined the show for about 20 minutes despite the horrible experience at the board. He blamed himself, but also felt that the organizers could have made it more clear that they were using a completely new rate of play. Norway Chess is one of the few strong tournaments that does not have a technical meeting for the players before the start. “They are boring, but now we know why they exist,” Levon Aronian said. This was the board position at the time Carlsen lost. The video capturing the precise moment(3:23 mark) S2clwhqlmYk The organizer later made an official apology for the mishap. http://2015.norwaychess.com/official-apology/ E82SvtfsNSk Results from Round 1 In round 2 Caruana thrashed Carlsen with white. His preparation was top notch and right from the opening Carlsen was fighting a lost battle. A morale booster for Caruana who has been trounced by Carlsen for the last 12 months across various formats. Anand was winning at some point against Giri but misplayed the latter portion of the game which eventually fizzled out to a draw. S3uyx-l86PA Results from Round 2 In Round 3 again Anand misplayed a winning position to let Grischuk escape with a draw. Carlsen too was cruising against Giri only to blunder and allow the Dutchman to make a draw. Carlsen's negative record against Giri is a source of endless mirth to the young Dutchman who trolls the World Champion all the time. The earlier day he joked about how Magnus Carlsen was an easy opponent for him, how he would beat the hell out of him the next day and how he doesn't feel any sympathy for him after his unlucky loss to Topalov. After this miraculous escape Giri told the media "If he doesn't beat me here I think he'll never beat me! " :hysterical::hysterical: Anish Giri seems to have pissed off many Norwegians for making fun of Carlsen all the time. The event organizer Aulin-Jansson even said that he hoped Magnus would beat the **** out of Giri before their encounter. :cantstop: Results from Round 3 Round 4 saw the most awaited match of the tournament. World Champion Magnus Carlsen renewed his storied rivalry with ex World Champion Vishy Anand and this time it was the Indian legend who came out on top in a complicated Breyer Ruy Lopez. The match was held in a Monastery and the confession innovation this tournament is experimenting with added the touch of humour. uSrl4GjOJ08 One has to go back 10 years to find the last tournament where Carlsen had such a bad start. This was at Gausdal 2005 when Magnus was only 14 years old. In fact no World Champion in the last 90 years has had such a bad start to any tournament. Though to be fair he was crushing Topalov before tragedy struck in R1. Results from Round 4 Sources: http://en.chessbase.com/ https://chess24.com/en/read/news http://www.chess.com/

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Happy 40th Birthday to the 14th World Champion in Chess and a true legend of the game, Vladimir Kramnik. :birthday: Hope you carry on playing splendid chess for a few more years. He gave a fascinating interview on this occasion to ChessPro(in Russian). Here is the original as well as English translation(courtesy Chess24). He explains why he’s not ready to quit chess just yet but is also unlikely to follow in the footsteps of his friend Vishy Anand. He also comes up with an all-time Top 10 of chess players(must see), reflects on his changing style and compares star players to composers(must see), noting Magnus is no Mozart but Kasparov could be Rammstein. Unmissable !!!! Russian: http://www.chesspro.ru/interview/kramnik_levin_interview English:https://chess24.com/en/read/news/vladimir-kramnik-it-turns-out-i-m-52-not-40

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Topalov wins Norway Chess Classic, Anand finishes second hvtezHFn5FI Lucky Topalov, undeserved win against Carlsen followed by 2 freebies from Grischuk and Hammer. According to chess experts Anand and Nakamura played the best chess this event, especially Anand who was clinical and never was in trouble in any of the matches. Icing on the cake was his win over Magnus who had a horrible event. He even lost to his countryman Hammer(ELO 2677). It was Hammer's first classical win over his good friend and World Champion since 2000. Last time this happened(see pic below) Magnus had his worst event since the 2010 Chess Olympiad. His performance rating was 2693 and he lost 23 points. Clearly he doesn't like playing in Norway, he was ordinary in the last 2 editions(both won by Karjakin) and was unrecognizable here. Good for chess because his domination was frankly getting boring. :haha: Expect the Viking to come back hard in St Louis, feel sorry for those who will face his wrath in the coming matches. Overall Topalov, Anand ,Nakamura and Giri can be happy with their show here. Nakamura surprisingly has lost only 1 classical match whole year(to Vishy in Zurich). His rating is around 2810 and is playing with more restraint, his all out mindless aggression last 2 years were getting him nowhere. If only he can get rid of Carlsenphobia(he is 0-11 against the Viking in classical) he has good chances of becoming World Champ one day. Giri meanwhile continues to troll Magnus, he is enemy number 1 in Norway. :hysterical: His win over Topalov was a masterpiece, if only he plays more positively more often he could be a real contender for the throne. MVL and Hammer played according to their capabilities. Carlsen had a nightmare event. Caruana was underwhelming(-1 doesn't befit his caliber) and his rise last year looks very distant now. Grischuk and Aronian have been horrible this year after establishing themselves as top 5 players over the last 5 years. Hope they find form, especially Aronian who once again blew a promising position against Carlsen this time. Just last year people were talking about an Aronian-Carlsen title match and now this. These guys simply don't have the consistency that is required to be at top.

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English IM Lawrence Trent to manage Fabiano Caruana https://chess24.com/en/read/news/lawrence-trent-to-manage-fabiano-caruana